


Strange Lights

by presidentbees



Category: SAYER (Podcast)
Genre: OC, Original Character - Freeform, Podcast, SAYER (podcast) - Freeform, SAYER - Freeform, expect more from her later, man i love this character, mild body horror, there is some kind of weird stuff in here but not too bad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-01
Updated: 2016-08-01
Packaged: 2018-07-28 18:49:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7652716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/presidentbees/pseuds/presidentbees
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>[Greetings Resident: Edelweiss. Identification number: 22434. I am SAYER, and I am happy to be the first person to congratulate you on your first day back. Today, you have been assigned with retrieval and delivery: something easy to start you off with. Assuming you do not make any serious mistakes, and that you remember to make rational decisions based off of your training, you should be fine.]</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Strange Lights

_[Greetings Resident: Edelweiss. Identification number: 22434. I am SAYER, and I am happy to be the first person to congratulate you on your first day back. Today, you have been assigned with retrieval and delivery; something easy to start you off with. Assuming you do not make any serious mistakes, and that you remember to make rational decisions based off of your training, you should be fine.]_

Tightening the safety rope around her waist, Molly prepared herself for the jump. Beneath her, the service elevator shaft stretched endlessly into the gloom. Broken girders and safety scaffolds lined the tunnel like broken teeth while several electrical cables waved lazily in the modified gravity; the tunnel was a wreck. Molly was seeing it after the cleaning drones had been through. 

Molly’s job was to slowly rappel to the bottom of the shaft, locate the entrance to the loading bay, find the gray service cart marked with BMC14, confirm that the contents were not damaged and/or compromised by the violent ejection of the elevator, collect the materials from inside of the cart, make the trip back up the safety line, and then deliver all of the contents back to the hands of scientists who knew how to properly dispose of them. Good. Okay. Easy peas-y, lemon squeez-y.

Looking at the drop below her, Molly had to suppress a shiver. Growing up in Southeast Ogalalla, Molly had been surrounded by miles of flatlands, with the highest structure being the city police’s watchtower. Heights were not her forte. 

_[Resident Edelweiss, I can tell by your elevated heart rate that you are apprehensive about your ability to complete this task. You must remember that all of your jobs are specifically chosen for you by your physical health, your past job performances, and Ærolith’s current needs. It is imperative that you complete your duties.]_

Time was up. Molly double checked that her neon yellow line was well tied and took a deep breath. She jumped.

Falling in modified gravity was uncomfortable, to say the least. As Molly dropped, she gently bounced off of the side of the wall, her limbs moving in slow motion because of the cumbersome, old fashioned suit. Most of Ærolith’s equipment was state of the art, but temp workers tended to get whatever was left after the other priority jobs had been assigned. 

Maneuvering around a girder, Molly shone her headlamp down at the floor in search of a clean place to touch down. The concrete floor had been violently blown apart when the elevator’s explosives detonated -- sending the elevator rocketing through the shaft and eventually punching a hole out into space -- and every unstable concrete slab looked like it was capable of overturning and crushing Molly beneath it. 

Molly touched down on a bare patch of floor. Nothing around her moved other than the puffs of concrete dust that had been kicked up from her impact, but Molly’s hair was standing on end. Maybe it was just paranoia getting the best of her, but Molly’s gut instincts always knew when something was afoot. 

Of course, there was that one time that Molly’s gut had been sending her danger vibes, but it had just turned out that the protein paste was spiced differently. All that Molly had saved herself from was being shocked by tabasco flavored protein paste. Though, there had been reports of other residents having adverse reactions after eating the tabasco flavored protein paste, but sudden and total hair loss could be blamed on just about anything.

Shaking off the bad vibes, Molly picked up a concrete chunk and pinned her safety rope to the floor – so it wouldn’t float away in the modified gravity and leave Molly stranded – and planted a flare next to where she had landed. It would act as a beacon for Molly to find her way back, and to tell the Body Removal Squad where Molly had last been if she didn’t return. 

With everything in place, Molly double checked her surroundings before heading off in the direction of the loading dock. The only noises she could hear were the sound of her breathing and the muffled shuffling of her boots against concrete. It was all so quiet; even SAYER had taken a break from broadcasting, but Molly could swear that—

There. 

Molly whipped her beam around, looking back at the path that she had taken. She could have sworn that she had heard another set of boots behind her. Concrete dust floated through the air, causing a slight haze, but there was only one set of footprints in the dust: Molly’s. 

_[Resident Edelweiss, you are taking up too much time. Please remember that you only have forty-three minutes of air left, and you still need to climb all the way back up to the laboratory. You will not be given another oxygen tank, and if you do not complete your objective, you will be marked as an ‘incomplete’ for the day.]_

Her fear of failure won over her paranoia. Turning around, Molly continued forward, but she still kept her ears peeled for any anomalous sounds. Ears peeled. That was such a weird metaphor. Who would peel their ears— oh wait, she was mixing metaphors again; it was ‘keep your eyes peeled’, not ‘keep your ears peeled.’ Either way, Molly was thinking about peeled eyes and ears, and the imagery wasn’t doing anything to soothe her anxiety. 

Using a piece of debris as a step, Molly gracelessly hauled herself out of the elevator shaft and onto the loading dock floor. Her chest dragged across the floor as she pulled herself up, scraping off the suit’s cheap reflector tape.Smooth. Hopefully management wouldn’t make her pay for the damages. 

Carts had been abandoned on the loading dock floor, left in the same positions that they had been in at the time of the accident. Molly’s light shone off of the carts’ fluorescent tags, and she saw that many of them were marked as ‘BMC’, which meant that they were going to be sent to the BioChem labs. The gray carts looked eerie up close; their covered lids came up to just below Molly’s chest, and she wasn’t a small woman.

Molly passed through several rows of carts with no luck. Some of the carts had been overturned – either from the elevator’s blast or the fleeing workers – and Molly had to carefully step around an overturned cart whose lid had come loose. Silver packages of unprocessed protein were scattered across the floor, several of them bursting on impact and spilling protein paste across the floor. Molly gagged at the sight, turning her lamplight away. 

As Molly continued walking, she became aware of how far she was from the safety rope. The carts were becoming sparser, and Molly wondered if she might have already passed her objective item: BMC14. When she reached a container with a black-gray stamp on it, Molly knew that she had gone too far. 

The cart was larger than the others, and Molly’s inner-alarms screamed for her to stay away. None of her temp worker pamphlets had covered what to do when faced with a shipment cart like this, which meant that she needed to avoid it. There was also the fact that the cart was rolling slightly, the wheels creaking as it inched along the track. 

_[I do not have to remind you that your task today requires you to find cart BMC14. You have gone too far and are now in a restricted zone. Resident Edelweiss, turn back now, or you will receive a penalty on your work card for the day.]_

Molly was already running away as SAYER spoke. Her light bounced over the rows of carts, throwing strange shadows across the floor as she raced past. As much as Molly loathed working with other people, she realized that she needed them for protection. It was better for Molly if they were the ones placed in a dangerous situation, rather than herself.

Slowing down to a brisk walk, Molly retraced her way through the labyrinth of carts, going over all of the stickers and numbers again. BMC14 had been knocked over and hidden in the shadow of another cart, which was why Molly overlooked it the first time. 

“So much lost time,” Molly cursed as she began to pry off the cart’s lid. 

She could not fail this assignment. Molly had been twenty days without an incomplete; the last time Molly had received an incomplete was when she had been sabotaged by a fellow resident. Molly was injected with an unknown solution, so that the traitorous scientist could observe the effects: extreme vomiting and cardiac arrest. After recovering, Molly had argued that her day shouldn’t have counted as an incomplete, because in all technicalities, Molly had helped fulfill her work duties of testing the effects of different chemicals in the human body. SAYER had made the point that Molly was only responsible for her reactions to the chemicals that had been assigned to her. 

The cart’s safety locks were strong, and Molly’s hands were clumsy in her outdated suit. Frustrated, Molly lifted her boot and stomped down on the plastic lock; it exploded. Plastic shards flew sluggishly through the air, and the lid popped open to reveal dozens of small black cases, all stamped with a silver foil sticker that labeled their contents, flammability, and other warnings. All of the warnings strongly advised against any sudden movements, so as to not damage the glass vials inside. 

Brushing plastic slivers away from her visor, Molly wasted no time with scooping up several boxes and loading them into the bright orange backpack that she had been given. Her movements were slow, trying to make sure that she didn’t damage the samples anymore than they already had been. Molly kept scanning the nearby carts, her earlier paranoia retuning. Even though the hardest part was over, Molly was still filled with a heavy sense of dread; the image of the black-gray stamped cart haunted her still. 

Molly was in the process of cinching the backpack’s flap shut when her light fell across a discarded box, which had slipped underneath another nearby cart. Removing her backpack, Molly kneeled down to retrieve the box -- and froze. From her vantage point, looking underneath the cart, Molly could see the other rows of carts stretched around her. Not only were there far more carts than she had initially thought, but Molly could see boots in the distance, walking among the rows of carts. 

The boots shuffled along the rows, their path dimly illuminated by a headlamp. Molly couldn’t see clearly from her position, but the boots looked like older models, like what a temp worker would wear –- like what Molly was wearing. 

Slowly, Molly grasped the abandoned box to her chest and slunk back to her backpack. Slipping it over her shoulders, Molly used her free hand to reach up and smother the light of her lamp. The loading dock was plunged into darkness, but Molly could see the soft glow of the other lanterns. They were so faint, Molly would have missed them if she hadn’t known that they were there, but they were far away enough that—

 _[Resident Edelweiss, I need to assure you that you are being illogical. You are the only worker in the Lower Loading Bay area, and you do not need to be experiencing such elevated levels of stress. You are alone. There is only you and the supply carts. Please make your way back to the exit so that you may complete your assignment. Do not dawdle.]_

A chill went down Molly’s spine. Not only because SAYER’s voice put her on edge -- it always reminded her of something from her childhood, a memory of a movie that she had long forgotten -- but because of the cold clarity that he delivered information in. There was nobody in the loading bay, but Molly had most definitely seen boots walking amongst the carts, and the lights were growing brighter. 

A light abruptly broke around the corner, illuminating Molly as she froze in shock. She couldn’t see the figure because of the bright light shining into her eyes, but it seemed to hold her captivated. It wasn’t until SAYER’s voice broke through her shock –- _“You only have twenty minutes of air remaining; I must advise you to make haste.”_ –- that Molly lashed out. Throwing the case that had been clutched to her chest, Molly broke into a sprint as she heard the case break open, glass shattering into the modified gravity. 

This wasn’t the most terrifying situation that Molly had been placed in, but it was close. The backpack jostled against her back, throwing Molly off balance whenever she had to take the time to climb over a piece of debris. Molly didn’t stop running until she reached the end of the loading dock and was looking over the shallow pit that used to be the elevator shaft’s floor. The crimson light of her flare glowed in the distance. 

Looking over her shoulder, Molly checked that she wasn’t being followed. Thankfully, there weren’t any lights chasing her. She made the short jump to a piece of rubble, and then dropped to the floor with an oomph. She had made it back to the exit with ten minutes of air to spare. It would be close, but Molly would be able to make it up the line in time.

Molly anxiously adjusted the backpack. The floor stretched out around her, littered with shadows and hiding places for something to jump out at her. She had made it safely through the first time, though, and that thought reassured her as she picked her way around pieces of metal and stone. Molly was halfway across when she thought to look back. 

There, on the lip of the loading dock, were three lights shining out into the darkness. Their beams weren’t strong enough to illuminate anything farther than a couple of feet, but Molly’s lamp was a beacon telling the figures exactly where to go. As the first light moved forward and fell into the shaft, Molly was already turning towards the rope. 

She was close; she would make it. Closing the last few feet to the rope, Molly stepped around her old flare and grabbed onto the line. Then, using all of her strength, Molly began to climb upwards.

The backpack threatened to drag Molly back down to the floor. In normal gravity, Molly wouldn’t have been able to lift the bag, much less climb with it, but the modified gravity had made it slightly easier. Still, Molly had a death grip on the rope as she made her way upwards, refusing to look down. 

Hand over hand, Molly climbed. She could feel the veins in her forehead bulging from the exertion -- something that she tried to hide behind her bangs when around people -- and her face was growing hot. Anger and fear were beginning to take over Molly’s rational senses, and when the rope jerked and caused Molly’s foot to lose its purchase, she looked down. 

The lamps stood around the bottom of the rope, illuminated by the flare’s red glow. One of the figures grabbed the bottom of the rope in its hands and was tugging itself upwards, using only its upper body to move. Molly could see that there was something wrong with the figure’s legs as it climbed upwards; the legs waved in the modified gravity, useless and twitching as they tried to mimic Molly’s climbing motions. 

Looking back up, Molly saw that she was close enough that she would make it before her air ran out -- _“Ten minutes, Edelweiss.”_ \-- but any more slipups might result in her falling back to the bottom of the shaft, killing her from the fall and oxygen deprivation. 

Molly squared her shoulders and pushed herself up the rope, ignoring how the rope was violently shaking as the other two figures began to climb. Molly’s muscles burned and her breathing was beginning to feel thin and strained, evidence that she was reaching the end of her tank. With a final burst of effort, Molly cleared the last few feet of rope and smacked her hand against the metal lip of the elevator floor. 

The blue fluorescence of the safety lights burned against her eyes, but Molly was too tired to care. She hauled herself up and over the edge, crawling towards the elevator doors that would seal off the shaft, trapping the figures -- whoever or whatever they were -- behind four inches of solid metal. Dropping the backpack to the ground, Molly rose off her knees just enough to push the CLOSE EMERGENCY DOORS button, right as a headlamp broke over the edge. 

Molly didn’t hesitate. The figure was over the lip, its gloved hand reaching out towards Molly as it struggled to pull its legs over the edge. Slamming her hand against the button, Molly continued pushing it until the doors had slid close, their sharp edges cutting the figure from view. 

Gasping, Molly took off her helmet and let out a sob as she gulped in the air flooding into the tunnel. Clutching her helmet to her chest, Molly’s whole body trembled as she tried to ignore the muffled sounds of banging that were coming from the other side of the door. 

_[Good work. You have completed the hardest part of your assignment. Make your way to floor eight, where you will finish your delivery. Unfortunately, you will not receive full credit for your work today as you did not retrieve all of the cases. Do not worry, Resident Edelweiss, you will have another chance to complete your assignment tomorrow. For now, I am SAYER, and you can feel free to worry about the things that should very much concern you. End of transmission in 5…4…3…2…1…]_

**Author's Note:**

> Can you believe that I had only planned on this being 800 words? Yeah. I sat down to write the last 200 and then I was like "wait but like, what if I just kept writing. I could do that..." and then this happened.
> 
> This is a gift for [the-sage-of-dissolution](http://the-sage-of-dissolution.tumblr.com/). Big thank you to Vik for letting me adopt your OC (Molly Edelweiss), I hope I get to write more about her in the future. 
> 
> Per usual, my main blog is over at[ theadminchamomile](http://archiveofourown.org/works/theadminchamomile.tumblr.com), and I encourage you all to check out my other blog,[ auideas](http://archiveofourown.org/works/auideas.tumblr.com). That’s about it from me, and I can’t wait to participate in more podcast secret santa events in the future! 
> 
> 8/31 EDIT: Big thank you to Vik ([thatstowawaydreamer](thatstowawaydreamer.tumblr.com)) and Jess ([technogeekmituna](technogeekmituna%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%8B.tumblr.com) / [sightlessprophet](http://archiveofourown.org/users/sightlessProphet/pseuds/sightlessProphet)). Honestly, the fic is so much better thanks to y’all.


End file.
